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WILSON DOCTRINE 



How the Speech of President Wilson at Mobile, Ala., Has 
Been Interpreted by the Latin-American Countries 

BY 

POLICARPO BONILLA 

Ex-President of Honduras, C. A. 



NEW YORK 
MARCH 1914 



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FILE COPY 

COLUMBUS MEMORIAL LIBRARY 

PAN AMERICAN UNION, 

JuN 1 1914 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

EXTRACT OF^fe SPEECH 



"The future, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be very 
different for this hemisphere from the past. These States 
lying to the south of us, which have always been our neighbors, 
will now be drawn closer to us by innumerable ties, and, I 
hope, chief of all, by the tie of a common understanding of 
each other. Interest does not tie nations together. It some- 
times separates them. 

"We must prove ourselves their friends and champions, 
upon terms of equality and honor. You cannot be friends 
upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality. You 
cannot be friends at all except upon the terms of honor. We 
must show ourselves friends by comprehending their interest 
whether it squares with our own interest or not. 

"I want to take this occasion to say that the United States 
will never again seek one additional foot of territory by < 
conquest. / \ 

"Our real relationship with the rest of America is, the 
relationship of a family of mankind devoted to the develop- 
ment of triie constitutional liberty. America is a name which 
sounds in the ears of men everywhere as a synonym with 
individiial opportunity because a synonym of individual lib- 
erty. I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free 
than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with 
liberty. 

"There is one peculiarity about the history of the Latin 
American states which I am sure they are keenly aware of. 
You hear of 'concession' to foreign capitalists in Latin Amer- 
ica. You do not hear of concession to foreign capitalists in 
the United States. They are not granted concessions. They 
are invited to make investments. The work is ours, though 
they are welcome to invest in it. . We do not ask them to 
supply the capital and do the work. It is an invitation, not 
a privilege; and states that are obliged, because their terri- 
tory does not lie within the main field of modern enterprise 
and action, to grant concessions, are in this condition, that 
foreign interests are apt to dominate their domestic affairs: 
a condition of affairs always dangerous and apt to become 
intolerable. What these states are going to see, therefore, 
is an emancipation from the subordination which has been 
inevitable, to foreign enterprise and an assertion of the 
splendid character which, in spite of these difficulties, they 
have again and again, been able to demonstrate. The dig- 
nity, the courage, the self-possession, the self-respect of the 
Latin American States, their achievements in the face of all 
these adverse circumstances, deserve nothing but the admira- 



tion and applause of the world. They have had harder 
bargains driven with then in the matter of loans than any 
other peoples in the world. Interest has been exacted of them 
that was not exacted of anybody else, because the risk was 
said to be greater; and then securities were taken that de- 
stroyed the risk, an admirable arrangement for those who 
were forcing the terms. I rejoice in nothing so much as in 
the prospect that they will now be emancipated from tliese 
conditions, and we ought to be the first to take part in assisting 
in that emancipation. 

"We ha.ve seen material interests threaten constitutional 
freedom in the United States. Therefore, we will now know 
how to sympathize with those in the rest of America who 
have to contend with such powers not only within their bor- 
ders but from outside their borders also. I know what the re- 
sponse of the thought and heart of America will be to the 
programme I have outlined, because America was created to 
realize a programme like that. 

"In emphasizing the points which must unite us in sym- 
pathy and in spiritual interest with the Latin American 
peoples, we are only emphasizing the points of our own life, 
and we should prove ourselves untrue to our own traditions 
if we proved ourselves untrue friends to them. Do not think, 
therefore, gentlemen, that the questions of the day are mere 
questions of policy and diplomacy. They are shot through 
with the principles of life. We dare not turn from the prin- 
ciples that morality, and not expediency, is the thing that 
must guide us, and that we will never condone iniquity because 
it is most convenient to do so. 

"It seems to me that this is a day of infinite hope, of con- 
fidence in a future greater than the past has been." 

GENERAL CONSIDEEATIONS. 

The thought and the heart of America have answered 
President Wilson. With unanimous and enthusiastic 
voice, it has applauded the programme made public by- 
President Wilson in the speech delivered on October 26th, 
1913, at Mobile, Alabama, of which we have copied above, 
the extracts that seemed to us of greater interest for the 
object we have in view. Mr. Wilson addresses the people 
of America in his own name and that of the United States 
Government invoking the friendship, and fraternity of 
this hemisphere and treating the other countries as equals. 
He does not offer, as was formerly offered them, or tried 
to impose on them, a protection humiliating to their pride, 
and offensive to their sovereignty, that has made odious 
to the weak nations of this continent the doctrine that 



the illustrious President Monroe proclaimed for their own 
benefit. President Wilson proposes to make the in- 
habitants of this vast continent regain confidence in pos- 
sibility of living in accord, and that "we shall presently 
come upon these great heights where there shines, unob- 
structed, the light of the justice of God". 

We intend to comment on that speech, applying to 
it the criterions, with which the peoples of the South 
have interpreted it, especially in Central America; and 
deducting the logical consequences that should be de- 
ducted from the beautiful expressions contained in that 
historical document, which means the proclamation of a 
new doctrine of International Law for America, that 
comes to take the place of the discredited Monroe Doc- 
trine, or if it is preferred so, that comes to re-establish 
it in its original purity, with the modifications imposed 
hj changed times and the advance of civilization. 

When President Monroe made his famous declaration, 
"America for the Americans", his purpose was to safe- 
guard the existence of the new-born Latin American 
nationalities and the stability of their democratic insti- 
tutions. He wanted to make impossible any conquest 
by the monarchies of Europe that were trying to coalesce 
to restore colonial government in America. But he did 
not intend to reserve for his own country the right that 
he denied to the nations of the old world, and he could 
not conceive that the United States would assume and 
use the right of conquest in any part of American ter- 
ritory. 

But there came a day in which they did it. The dis- 
covery of gold in California, and the settling of Ameri- 
cans in Texas, created foreign material interests that 
overcome morality and justice. On one pretext or 
another, war was declared. The neighboring territory 
was unpopulated, and was inhabited mainly by tribes of 
nomad Indians. The invaders did not find any resistance 
in the inhabitants of the land that they afterward an- 
nexed, nor to keep the conquered territory. The resist- 
ance made by the Mexican nation was not great, on ac- 
count of the backward state of the country, and also 
on account of the exhaustion produced by constant civil 
wars. Mexico lost, consequently, on being vanquished, 



more than half of its territory; and since then there has 
been instilled in the hearts of the Mexicans the fear of 
future invasions and the natural rancor against the con- 
querors, a feeling that has not disappeared in nearly 
seventy years, being transmitted to three generations, 
although some times it has been dulled by the influence 
of commerce and immigration, and with the inversion 
in Mexican soil of over one thousand millions of Ameri- 
can capital in all sorts of enterprises. Since then the 
Monroe Doctrine instead of being considered as a guar- 
antee of independence by the Latin American countries, 
was regarded as a menace to their very existence. 

Lately the Spanish War, begun in the name of 
Humanity and civilization, ended in material gains for 
the United States, with the acquisition of Porto Rico and 
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba ; and that induced Latin Amer- 
ica to believe that this country was still seeking new 
territorial conquests, which was a new source of dis- 
credit for the Monroe Doctrine. 

Later, in 1904, the President declared that the United 
States had the right to assume the role of international 
police in Latin America ; and so deeply wounded the pride 
of the other nations, that the doctrine invoked in that 
declaration was made odious, and still more, this added 
to the resentment produced by the means employed to 
acquire the Panama Canal Zone, violating the treaty with 
Colombia, and afterwards the establishment of an eco- 
nomic protectorate in Santo Domingo, that has produced 
the complete ruin of that country. 

A secretary of State, later, destroyed the fruits of the 
patient labors of conciliation of the two races initiated 
by his predecessor, Mr. Blaine, founder of Pan-American- 
ism, and further advanced by another, Mr, Root, when 
proclaimed as the policy of this government towards 
Latin America the "Dollar Diplomacy"; and in accord- 
ance with it, tried to impose on the various Central Ameri- 
can countries, loans and other ruinous negotiations based 
on the Dominican plan, that happily were rejected, with 
the exception of Nicaragua, where the government com- 
mitting real high treason, and with a perfect knowledge 
that the American Senate was opposed to that policy, sub- 
mitted itself to the will of the State Department. The 



result has been, that to protect supposed American inter- 
est, to protect an option of buying the national railroads 
and navy at a ridiculously low price, and may be for rea- 
sons of a worst kind, that we leave for others to make 
public; American marines were landed, to uphold the 
government of the traitors to their country and their race, 
and to fight the Nicaraguans defending the honor, the dig- 
nity and the autonomy of their country. After their easy 
triumph, these marines occupied and still occupy the 
White House at Managua, hoisting daily in that mansion 
the flag of the Stars and Stripes, that should be only a 
symbol of the liberty of these countries, and maintaining 
with that permanent affront, the indignation of public 
(sentiment in the Latin American peoples. 

All that has also been done while invoking the Mon- 
roe Doctrine. Such precedents have produced a state of 
public opinion, that the simple mention of that historical 
doctrine in regard to the international relations be- 
tween this country and others of this continent, makes 
them consider it as an offense to their dignity and its 
sovereignty, and at the same time as a menace to their 
independence and other vital interests. Unquestionally 
President Wilson understood it to be so; and on that 
account, taking advantage of the presence at Mobile of 
the representatives of the Latin American Eepublics for 
the meeting of the Commercial Congress of the South, 
offered then the olive branch as a token of peace, and 
enunciated in the above quoted speech a new doctrine, 
that conveys the reprobation of all the arbitrary ampli- 
fications and interpretations that have been added to the 
original Monroe Doctrine, and of all the abuses that 
have been committed under it, while at the same time 
recognizes the duty of repairing the harm done as far 
as possible. 

The new doctrine, according to the intention of its 
author, will have as a basis, the legal equality of all the 
sovereign nations of this continent, their mutual under- 
standing, that will foment real friendship, having as a 
basis honor, and as an end justice. It will mean that 
America is for the Americans, but in the sense that this 
continent shall not be considered as the African con- 



6 



tinent, a field where the Powers have disputed the share 
that each of them wants, conquest being barred from it, 
even if it is only a foot of territory, for the nations of 
the old continent as well as for those of the new world ; 
and it will mean that America is for mankind, a field 
destined to the free exercise of individual activity a 
synonym of individual liberty. It will mean that Amer- 
ica must tend to emancipate itself from subordination to 
material interest, especially foreign interest, and to ac- 
complish that end, the- United States will help those 
nations less favored by fortune; the most efficacious 
means being that its Department of State, should give 
a good example to the w^orld powers, by not sustaining 
diplomatically any unjust or immoderate claim, refus- 
ing even to accept it as a basis of discussion without a 
previous and conscientious study, and that it will never 
give the form of ultimatum to the violent exactions that 
were used formerly on account of that kind of claims; 
and as a consequence of that policy, America will not 
permit other nations the same privileges. 

That new doctrine should be named as we have named 
at the head of this article, the Wilson Doctrine ; but as 
a tribute to the memory of its generous creator of the 
original doctrine, it should be called the Monroe Wilson 
Doctrine. With that distinction it will be separated 
from the counterfeits that have been made of the Monroe 
Doctrine, and thus it will be well received by Latin 
America; until it is accepted as a principle of Inter- 
national Law in America, either by inserting it in special 
treaties or by having it accepted in the next Pan-Ameri- 
can Conference that will take place at Santiago de Chile. 
The legal points that it will embrace are well defined in 
the President's speech, and it only remains to give them 
the concrete form of a diplomatic document. 

When that is accomplished there will exist in America 
an equilibrium greater than that of Europe, because it 
will be based on the accord and good understanding of 
all the nations of this continent; and in that concert of 
nations the United States will have always the greater 
influence, an influence that attracts instead of repels be- 
cause it does not depress or degrade those that accept it. 



And- then, American capital, immigration, industries and 
commerce will be welcomed again in the Latin American 
countries. 

President Wilson whilst that day arrives can make 
that doctrine popular, by the most efficacious means ; by 
fulfilling and practising the duties that it imposes on 
his country. Latin America has lost faith in platforms 
and the speeches of candidates, in proclamations of as- 
pirants for power, because those promises nearly in 
every case are not fulfilled. It has lost faith in Presi- 
dent's messages and speeches, because they regularly say 
the contrary of what they think, or do the contrary of 
what they say. But down there they have a high opinion 
of the English seriousness, and considering the I^orth 
Americans as sons of the English, they attribute to them 
that virtue also. On that account, and for his honorable 
personal antecedents, they place their faith in President 
Wilson, and believe that he will make good his promises. 
And he could do it because he is in accord with the legis- 
lature power, and counts especially with the good will 
of the Senate, which has manifested itself, more than 
once in favor of a policy of justice towards Latin 
America. Besides, the ideals proclaimed in Mr. Wilson's 
speech, cannot be considered as rhetorical fireworks, be- 
cause that speech was premeditated. What he said must 
be believed it was said to remove the bad impression 
caused recently by the convention for a protectorate, en- 
tered into by the Department of State with the govern- 
ment of Nicaragua, and the worst impression created 
by the declaration, of the same Department, about its in- 
tention of exeee4ing that protectorate to the other Cen- 
tral American Republics, and generally to all the coun- 
tries near the Panama Canal. Latin America protested 
unanimously against such a project; and it is easily un- 
derstood, that President Wilson should have wished to 
demonstrate that if there was a mistake made in con- 
ceiving that plan, there was no bad faith on the part of 
this government, and that there existed no hostility to- 
wards those countries. We expect that he will prove that, 
not only by abandoning such purposes, of gTeater im- 
portance to America than all the others entertained by 



8 

previous administrations ; and also by righting the wrongs 
previously done. Of all this we will talk in an extensive 
form hereafter. 

We want to say now, that we consider a protectorate 
as the worst calamity that may befall a nation, even 
worse than the total loss of independence. Under that 
system, the protector is the one that really governs and 
administers, without any responsibility, notwithstanding 
the many errors which it will necessarily incur, for lack 
of knowledge of the habits, character, and needs of the 
protected country. For the protector the best executive 
is the most submissive to his orders, whether it is a tyrant 
or a thief, even^ it is hated by the people ; and frequently 
it cannot be aware of its bad traits, because it governs and 
administers through agents, that to take personal ad- 
vantage of the vices of the protected government, report 
always in its favor. For that reason it must not seem 
strange if we affirm that in Central America, from the 
high-minded man to the most ignorant person, if they 
were put to the necessity of choosing between the pro- 
tectorate of the United States and annexation to this 
country, they would not hesitate to answer : "We do not 
desire or accept any of the two extremes : We want our 
absolute independence, as we had it from our fathers, and 
as we want to transmit it to our sons ; and to defend it we 
would offer our lives ; but if by force you impose on us to 
choose, we prefer annexation, because in that way we 
would enjoy the benefit of the American laws and institu- 
tions and we would have the protection of its judiciary." 
Because President Wilson made no mistake in recogniz- 
ing the dignity, the courage, and the splendid character 
of those peoples. They love their country, even if it is 
weak and small, as much as the North Americans love 
their own big and strong, or more precisely, because it is 
small and weak. There had never been traitors in those 
countries, and although unfortunately treason has shown 
its hateful face, it is execrated by all the Central Ameri- 
can peoples, and by all America, and we yet hope that the 
treason shall not be consummated. 

Yes, we have confidence that the day of justice, that 
the day of atonement for the offenses and harm done by 
this country to others of America, is near. We want to 



9 i 

believe, we have the right and the duty to believe, that 
very soon the words of the President of the United States 
will be accomplished facts, that he will fulfill his 
promises. 

With such a confidence we do not hestitate to show the 
logical consequences that the Central American countries 
and generally those of Latin America, most expect from 
the speech we are considering, and we will review the 
countries that have been directly affected by the mistaken 
policy formerly observed towards Latin America. 

MEXICO. 

The Mexican situation affects to a great extent Central 
America, not only on account of the community of race, 
but because the consequences its outcome may produce for 
those countries. For more than three years civil war has 
been tearing to pieces that country, formerly so pros- 
perous, to-day so unhappy. And as yet none can predict 
when it will end, nor the complications that may arise. 

We do not care to discuss the responsibility that the 
United States may have in that war, nor do we care to 
affirm that the Government of the United States fomented 
it at the beginning, although the fact that it provoked a 
short time before a revolution in Nicaragua and prior to 
that or simultaneous movements in Honduras, would re- 
lieve us from the burden of proof. But we believe that the 
revolution in Mexico was undoubtedly promoted by per- 
sons in accord with the material interests of a few Ameri- 
cans, and to promote those interests all other American 
interests belonging to the majority of Americans resident 
in that country were sacrificed as well as the permanent 
interests of this country. The war affects the interests 
of the whole world, and especially those of the United 
States on account of territorial proximity and because 
this country has more capital invested in Mexico than all 
the other countries together. 

If Mexican patriotism does not awaken to put an end 
to the strife at an early date, and every one does not 
sacrifice personal ambition and political hatred, it is 
to be feared that the war will provoke foreign interven- 
tion. 



10 



President Wilson has proved that he does not want his 
country to intervene, because he must have seen clearly 
that it would be the greatest calamity that could be- 
fall both countries. It would cost the United States 
tens of thousands of men and hundreds of millions of 
dollars, besides entailing the necessity of taking from 
their usual labor at least 200,000 men to form an invading 
army. Also he must have seen that the end of the strug- 
gle would be the absorption of Mexico. The President has 
said : "The United States will not seek to acquire a single 
foot of territory by conquest" ; but it would be extremely 
difficult for him to maintain his pledged word. In case of 
war the leader who declares it may know how it will 
begin, and his aim may be entirely disinterested or altru- 
istic, but the same leader cannot foresee how it will end 
or what the consequences may be. Surely he will fear 
that, in view of the immense sacrifices in blood and money 
that would ensue, public opinion would manifest itself in 
favor of absolute conquest as a compensation and as a 
guarantee that there would not be a repetition of the case. 
Nor would the demand of the public end there. Once the 
United States was converted into a conquering nation, 
it would want at once, without forfeiting future aspira- 
tions, to extend the frontiers of this country to the ex- 
treme limits of the Isthmus of Panama on the other side 
of the canal. 

There may be some Mexicans and Central Americans 
that will blame us for uttering this bitter truth, fearing 
that it is equivalent to showing the way that should be 
followed by this country ; but if they do, it will be because 
they have not thought that the idea is not exclusively our 
own; that because it has not been written before to our 
knowledge, does not signify that it has not existed, and 
that, instead of keeping silent, it is better to point out the 
peril, so that it may be avoided. The danger is just as 
great for the possible conqueror as for the countries that 
would be the victims. And if President Wilson has ex- 
pressed himself so energetically against any kind of con- 
quest, it must have been because he has foreseen the great 
harm that such a move would do to his country. 



11 



To maintain a conquest over that extensive territory, 
and over 20,000,000 of men of Indian- Spanish race, 
it would be necessary to keep there an army of no less 
than 150,000 soldiers and the greater part of the American 
navy watching more than 30 of the principal ports, per- 
haps for tens of years; and, besides, the United States 
would have to employ constantly such violent repressive 
measures that it would make impossible any kind of 
harmony between the conquering and the conquered races. 
It would provoke the hatred and lack of confidence of all 
the other nations of this continent and of the European 
nations that have colonies in America. The new territory 
thus acquired would keep the door, to-day closed, open for 
any enemy of the United States; because conquest causes 
a loss of national honor among the vanquished people, 
producing instead a hatred against the conquerors, in 
which case the inhabitants would receive with open arms 
any new invaders, even if they were sure that they were 
going to lose in the exchange. 

But the danger for the United States would go further. 
Its free institutions exist because there is not a permanent 
army, and consequently, militarism, the great enemy of 
liberty wherever it exists, has not been developed in this 
country. War would give a great prestige to many chiefs 
of the invading army, and the military occupancy of the 
conquered country would keep alive their prestige. Then 
the merits of the warrior and not the civil virtues would 
be the means to reach the high offices, because the im- 
morality of conquest would demoralize and corrupt the 
Anglo-Saxon people as it demoralized and corrupted the 
Roman people. 

And the consequences of that grave error may go still 
further. History teaches us that all great empires have 
ended in dissolution. This country has been saved by the 
admirable form of government it created for itself, but 
there is no denying that it contains the germ of at least 
three nationalities, the North, the South and the West. 
Any happening, however minor its nature, may cause 
another crisis like the five years' war. The date of that 
crisis may be hastened by the conquest of 20,000,000 of 
inhabitants of an alien race more easily assimilable to the 



12 

Southern and the South Western States, because the con- 
querors could not entertain the delusion that they could 
destroy or absorb so many human beings. And that 
might be the beginning of the end of the glorious ex- 
istence of the nation, which to-day is the wonder of the 
world under the name of the United States of America. 

And all that for what? For the self satisfaction of 
calling themselves the owners of almost half a continent. 
But being compelled to accomplish the second conquest, 
of the land that they would have to work, of the food 
they would have to eat, of the water they would have to 
drink, even of the air they would breath, because they 
would fear to find in everything, the watchful hate of the 
vanquished, who would contest inch by inch the posses- 
sion of everything that was formerly theirs. And all that 
when, without exposing themselves to so many dangers 
and risks, without committing injustice, "that should never 
be committed because it was convenient", they may enjoy 
all the advantages offered as brothers by those peoples to 
all foreigners, advantages of which the American citizens 
get the last part, because the proximity of those countries 
and their knowledge of the land, permits them to make 
the most profitable inversion of capital. 

For that very reason we believe that there will not be 
any armed intervention by the United States in Mexico. 
However, the civil war goes on taking lives and destroy- 
ing property and injuring foreign interests, the interests 
of the citizens of all the countries of the world. 

The policy followed by the government of this country 
has not helped and will not help to pacify Mexico. As 
we have in other times said, we find the principle pro- 
claimed by Mr. Wilson, that he would recognize only con- 
stitutional governments, very just and moral. But it is 
not practicable as long as the other nations do not accept 
it. It may be very useful in the future to prevent coups 
d'etats, dictatorships, military uprising and many of the 
revolutions, but it has not been able to prevent the con- 
quences of accomplished facts. The mediation offered 
with that policy could not give any results, because the 
country that has conquered territory from another, is not 
the one that is called to intervene in any form or manner 
in its internal struggles. Both parties would reject the 



13 

proposition in fear that their cause would lose prestige 
by the mere fact either would appear as lending a willing 
ear to the proposals. 

We believe it would have been successful, and even 
now might succeed, if the moral pressure were exerted by 
several powers of both continents simultaneously ; and if 
this should fail also, and the nations should believe that 
the use of force was necessary, the United States should 
not consent to act alone in such an undertaking, even if 
the other powers should request this country to do so. 
If, unfortunately, the case should arise, and the interven- 
tion should be undertaken by an international army and 
navy, perhaps all resistance w^ould disappear, and it 
would be reduced to a mere demonstration, because the 
Mexicans then would not fear the loss of a single foot of 
their territory and their national pride would not be 
greatly hurt by bowing before so many combined forces. 
The old Monroe Doctrine would not be an obstacle to 
that method of pacifying Mexico, because it would not be 
a matter of conquest, and already in several cases there 
have been disemi3arked forces of one or two nations com- 
bined with those of the United States, without having 
been considered as a violation of the Monroe Doctrine; 
and such course would clash still less with the more 
modern and ample principle proclaimed by President 
Wilson. Acting thus the legitimate and permanent wel- 
fare of this country would be identified with the cause of 
justice. Any other sort of welfare but the kind suggested 
would be temporary and misleading, the one that may be 
allied to iniquit}^ 

CUBA. 

Of this country we have very little to say. It was a 
Spanish colony. It fought for its freedom for many 
years; but notwithstanding the heroism of its sons, it 
could not conquer its freedom alone. It triumphed when 
it got the active help of the United States Army and Navy, 
that remained for a time in military occupancy of the 
island. This country could have taken possession of it 
as conquered territory, but it preferred to fulfill its prom- 
ises to the Cuban insurgents, giving life to a nation, and 



14 

Avas satisfied with acquiring a naval station that will al- 
ways be for Cuba its Gibraltar. Undoubtedly, absolute 
generosity would have been better, because it would have 
gained the gratitude of the Cubans without reserve. But 
in doing what it did as vanquisher of Spain, this country 
did not violate international law, although it did not ful- 
fill the disinterested motives claimed as reason to make 
war on Spain. The complete generosity would have had 
besides for this country the advantage of suppressing in 
the American people the ambition for new conquests, that 
was awakened anew, creating since then what has been 
called imperialism or expansionism. 

This country imposed other conditions before recogniz- 
ing the Cuban republic that limit to a certain extent its 
sovereignty, but they were justified by special circum- 
stances and on account of the responsibility assumed by 
this country in creating a new nation, to which it must 
give a solid foundation. For that reason this case must 
not be considered the same as that of the existing nations, 
that had become independent without foreign help. Tak- 
ing this in consideration, the Cuban statesmen, whose 
patriotism is unquestionable, accepted the conditions 
without committing a treasonable act against a nation 
that did not exist. 

Notwithstanding those limitations Cuba is in a better 
situation than Santo Domingo, because it does not suffer 
foreign intervention in its finances, that have reduced the 
latter country to the unfortunate condition we will refer 
to hereafter. Cuba is destined to be a free and prosperous 
nation, if the Cubans by good judgment place it in the 
way of acquiring in a near future the plentitude of its 
independent life, and if the Wilson doctrine is confirmed 
as an international doctrine for America. 

PUEETO EICO. 

This island passed from the domination of Spain to 
that of the United States. It was a colony ; to-day it is in 
anomalous condition, without precedent in the history 
of International Law. It is not a nation, because it has 
not sovereignty. It is not a colony of the United States, 
and still less a Territory, although its government is 



a 



15 



similar to this last political division, because the Porto 
Kicans do not enjoy American citizenship. Therefore the 
Porto Eicans have no country nor international status. 
The island is owned by the United States by right of con- 
quest, as we said before. It is the country most thickly 
populated of America, and the third if compared with the 
other nations of the world. The race that inhabits the 
island is very homogeneous, Latin race, with little mixing 
of Indian or negro blood. It has a perfect right to form 
a nation at least like Cuba. 

The democratic party of the United States has prom- 
ised the independence of the Philippines, where a great 
number of the inhabitants are savages. And with more 
reason it should be given to a civilized people like that 
of Puerto Eico. In any case these islanders have a right 
to a definite position in the world, and they should acquire 
either their own citizenship or that of the United States. 
President Wilson who has proclaimed justice as rule for 
the acts of the government of his country, will do full 
justice to that people, ending its irregular condition. 

COLOMBIA. 

The Isthmus of Panama was an integral part of 
Colombian territory. A Treaty with the LTnited States 
guaranteed its integrity, so as to prevent any other nation 
from trying to take possession of it. Panama proclaims 
its independence, having the promise of the United States 
to help it to sustain it. That promise was faithfully kept ; 
and in exchange for recognition of the new republic, with 
a limited sovereignty like that of Cuba, it obtained the 
eminent domain of the canal zone. Colombia is compelled 
to-day to accept the irreparable fact. It cannot pretend 
that Panama shall become again part of Colombia, and 
still less that the United States should give up the canal 
zone and lose the hundreds of millions they have expended 
in the construction of the canal. 

Colombia must forgive the daughter that left the 
maternal home to form her own ; but it is not in the same 
condition towards the seducer that offended her deeply 
and caused her heavy damages. She has right to com- 
pensations besides those of a pecuniary character, to wit : 



16 

to enjoy the same advantages in tlie canal that the United 
States and Panama does. Hitherto the adjustment of that 
difficulty has been impossible. To-day we consider it very 
easy. The President of the United States professes the 
belief that, "the convenience of the country should never 
be placed above the laws of honor nor of justice." 

SANTO DOMINGO. 

We have referred before, to the terrible situation in 
which this people finds itself, and whose original cause 
was a concession given to foreigners, American citizens, 
one of those concessions that President Wilson so merci- 
lessly censures in his speech. 

Santo Domingo, like many other Latin-American 
countries, had a foreign debt, whose payment was sus- 
pended, her resources being inadequate to meet it. It was 
one of the many cases in which the countries situated 
south of the Eio Grande, as inexperienced children, were 
defrauded by its bankers and agents in Europe. 

The bondholders of the debt, that were at the time 
other than the original subscribers, representing persons 
that had speculated in them, were waiting patiently, like 
all the creditors of those countries, until the republic 
should be in a better condition. But certain American 
capitalists conceived a plan to settle the debt, and they 
succeeded in getting a concession from the Dominican 
Government to that end. By lack of ability, or through 
error, they made a losing business, or at least not as good 
as they expected. Up to that time no harm could result 
on account of the concession, because it was natural that 
the concessionists should suffer the consequences of their 
own acts; but to avoid the losses they conceived a noxious 
plan. They made the European bondholders have their 
governments present a menacing and pressing claim for 
payment to the Dominican Government. Whether the 
American Government helped the American capitalists in 
the undertaking we do not know for a certainty, but the 
fact was, that on account of that dangerous situation, 
created by themselves, the President of the United States 
imposed the economic protectorate to the Dominican 
Government, compelling it to deliver the collection of 



17 

customs to a foreign collector, that had to be appointed 
by the President of the United States, and the Custom 
House receipts were to be applied to the payment of the 
foreign debt in the form that was also imposed. 

With this arrangement the Dominican Government 
was deprived of its principal source of revenue, and re- 
duced to the internal revenues that do not produce enough 
for its budget expenses. As a consequence of it there is 
great public and private poverty, and constant warfare as 
the surest and easiest way to live, and war, after the estab- 
lishment of the protectorate has been an endemic estate 
of the country, and there have been more scandals than 
ever, even to the extent of the assassination of several 
Presidents. That country has not enjoyed in exchange 
after suffering foreign intervention, of its economic ruin 
and of its poverty, any of the benefits of peace, not even 
the peace of the tombs. Many of the Presidents of that 
epoch in Santo Domingo have been accused of lack of 
honesty, of squandering the revenues that are left, and of 
incapacity to manage them; but there are abundant 
reasons to believe that even so, the principal cause of it 
is that the country has been overburdened in a grade 
superior to its economical force, with the payment of the 
debt in the form imposed upon it. Such is the logical 
consequence, as we have pointed out before, of any pro- 
tectorate. As the protector has not any legal responsi- 
bility towards the Dominican people or the world, it can 
put the blame on the protected government. 

But there has come for the Dominicans a day of bound- 
less hope. President Wilson, without doubt, consequent 
with his promises to the Latin-American peoples, will 
establish a very severe inquiry on the conditions that the 
Dominican people is subjected to ; and on discovering that 
it is due to the policy of preceding administrations, he 
will correct the injustice, and will deliver that people of 
its subordination not only to foreign interest, but to a 
foreign government, to which it is subservient at present. 
And as for every wrong suffered there should be some 
compensation, the Dominicans, on being freed from their 
actual degrading conditions, will be sensible, and remem- 
bering always the bitter lesson received, will resolve to 



18 

create a stable, honest and economical government that, 
living modestly, will meet without sacrifices all its obliga- 
tions abroad, under a new and more equitable arrange- 
ment. To reach such an arrangement the help of Presi- 
dent Wilson will be very useful, and he will lend it will- 
ingly. Thus will he settle the Dominican problem to the 
satisfaction of Anglo-Saxons and Latins. 

CENTEAL AMERICA. 

The countries that are compelled to give concessions 
to foreign capitalists. President Wilson says, are in such 
situation that it is possible for foreign interest to domi- 
nate their internal politics, a state of affairs that he con- 
siders dangerous and that often becomes intolerable ; and 
he advises them to use their utmost efforts to become free 
from their subordination. And if he says so in reference 
to private foreigTi enterprises, with more reason and more 
severity condemns the concessions made to other foreign 
governments, because in this case the subordination means 
the loss of sovereignty. 

This is the most energetic condemnation that he could 
make of Dollar Diplomacy, proclaimed and practiced by 
the Department of State under the former Administration 
over the Central American countries. 

Any kind of intervention by the government of a coun- 
try in the internal affairs of another is always harmful; 
but when both countries are of different races, have differ- 
ent languages and habits, and especially when the inter- 
ventor is bigger, richer and more powerful than the other 
country, the one that suffers intervention feels at least 
humiliated, even if the intervention is of such a nature 
that it does not directly affect its independence or 
autonomy. 

Nevertheless, this does not mean, that we do not recog- 
nize the benefits of the moral and civilizing influence of 
one country upon another, of the help that could be lent 
in cases of public calamity, or the fraternal mediation to 
end an international war or civil strife, on condition that 
it is offered and not imposed, and that the mediator should 
not feel offended if its mediation was rejected; because 
we are aware of the reciprocal duties of nations towards 



19 

each other in the cause of humanity, as the duty of indi- 
viduals within the community in which they live. 

It is on that account that we have been pleased by cer- 
tain friendly acts accomplished by the American Govern- 
ment in cases of war between the Central American 
States. It is on that account that we approved the efforts 
made by this and the Mexican Governments to convene in 
Washington the representatives of the five republics of 
Central America, with the object of choosing the best and 
most practical means to insure peace between them. If 
that conference did not attain the desired results, it was 
not the fault of the mediators, since they left the plenipo- 
tentiaries of those nations in absolute freedom to do as 
Ihey thought best. The United States Government's 
conduct in that case was absolutely disinterested, and 
we have made it a point always on every occasion to 
say so, as we were one of the representatives taking part 
in that conference. At that time was offered the radical 
remedy for the perturbed state of Central America: the 
re-establishment of the nation proclaimed by our fore- 
fathers, when they declared their independence, and it was 
rejected by a majority of votes; but as a gage of their 
good faith, the representatives of the two mediators did 
show, as far as their neutrality allowed them, their par- 
tiality in favor of that project. Another proof of their 
good faith was their attitude when it was proposed to 
annul the pact celebrated betweeen Guatemala, Salvador 
and Honduras, that designated as arbiters, supreme and 
permanently, for all their differences, the two mediator 
governments. That pact of arbitration was substituted 
by the establishment of the Central American Court of 
Justice, a resolution that was accepted with enthusiasm 
by the mediators. We did not place any faith in the suc- 
cess of that Court, and we said it at the time, as appears 
on the minutes of the meeting of the Conference. We ac- 
cepted it because it represented a bare possibility of peace, 
and because the Court was a national tribunal that super- 
seded an international tribunal. We did foresee then 
what happened afterwards, that the new tribunal would 
not fulfill the mission that was confided to it, because in- 
stead of a judicial tribunal it would be converted into a 



20 



political one. It was not through fault of the mediators 
but the natural consequence of the irregular, incon- 
venient, and dangerous situation in which those countries 
find themselves on account of their separation. 

It was only enough a change in- the personal of the 
Department of State to change radically the political 
leanings of this country towards those countries, estab- 
lishing what has been known in the United States and 
abroad under the name of Dollar Diplomacy, to which we 
have already referred. That name was given to that 
policy because it was said that its purpose was to substi- 
tute bullets for dollars to obtain peace and progress in 
Central America. The idea was good, but the facts did 
not agree with it. Suppressing from that policy its 
attacks on the sovereignty of those countries, it would 
have been entirely successful, if the dollars really had 
been sent over there, because it is what we lack of, receiv- 
ing in exchange our lands to cultivate them, our ways to 
construct railroads, our rivers for canalization, our ports 
for trading, and our sale in general to develop their in- 
dustries and all kinds of business ; because with better re- 
muneration, the greater field for ambition and the change 
in the trend of their interests, the Central Americans 
would have become more addicted to peace; and because 
with the development of new and important enterprises, 
these countries would have received increased revenues, 
and their governments would have been in a position to 
pay honorably and without sacrifice all its financial obli- 
gations whether they were old or new. As a proof of our 
assertion we can point out, beside other examples, that of 
one of the Custom Houses of Honduras. In less than four 
years it has trebled its production, due to the distribution 
of money for labor and the agricultural development 
brought about by the construction of seventy miles of 
railroad. 

Unluckily, in all the projects for the welfare of these 
countries that have been imposed on them, the dollars re- 
mained in the United States, and the only thing that 
should reach down there were the obligations 
thiat had to be converted into dollars to pay in- 
terest and sinking funds and salaries for foreign em- 



21 

ployees. That was splendid business for the bankers 
lucky enough to force i^s acceptation. And those nego- 
tiations were really forced on those governments, because 
the diplomatic or mercantile documents of agreement 
were presented already made, sometimes even printed be- 
forehand, and, without permitting any discussion, the 
governments were warned that they must accept them 
without changing even a comma in them. Thev undoubt- 
edly thought that there was not in Central America a 
single man capable of understanding the extent of such 
negotiations, or may be they were conscious that such 
proposals could not stand investigation by public opinion, 
because the most absolute secrecy was exacted about the 
negotiations, in Central America as well as here. 

The first contract of that kind was offered to Costa 
Eica, although on better conditions for that country. Al- 
though it was also an usurious bargain, because "to de- 
stroy the risk, they exacted absolute guarantee," nothing 
less than a clause providing that in case of failure to ful- 
fill the terms of the contract, the government of the 
United States would undertake to make effective the obli- 
gations of the country. The contract was accepted by the 
President of Costa Eica, but it was rejected by Congress, 
although it was ratified later with another concessionaire, 
leaving out the clause authorizing the intervention of a 
foreign government. 

The President of Guatemala, with great diplomacy, de- 
layed the negotiations for a long time without accepting 
or rejecting the proposal, until the peril was past on ac- 
count of the change in the administration, and of the 
Secretary of State. In Honduras, the President tried the 
same methods employed in Guatemala, and he delayed the 
negotiations for nearly two years, but lacking ability 
and energy, he gave occasion to be fomented two revolu- 
tions, and when the second revolution threatened his 
downfall, he accepted and signed the convention imposed 
by the Department of State, preliminary to a loan of ten 
millions. But the Honduranean Congress rejected it and 
the President lost his office, although he was successful in 
preventing the revolutionary chief from succeeding him. 
The new President declared that he was not bound to ac- 



22 



cept the convention. The Secretary of State did not 
desist from its policy, but for t|ie time being he did not 
try to force those governments to accept his propositions, 
because he could not get the American Senate to approve 
the Convention with Honduras, it being at the time shown 
that the Upper House was opposed to the policy of the 
Department. It was thus how the two countries were 
freed from these negotiations, that would have ruined 
them, as has been the case with another and more un- 
lucky country with which we are to deal presently. 

Nicaragua was the dissonant factor. With a perfect 
knowledge of the opposition of the American Senate, the 
government of that country signed and had ratified by the 
Nicaraguan Congress, that only in name represented the 
people, the convention and contract for a loan, practically 
the same as the one offered to Honduras, with only the 
difference in the amount of the loan, in this case |15,000,- 
000, and other conditions and collateral business more 
usurious than all that had been proposed up to that time. , 
But foreseeing that the American Senate would not ratify 
it, as it did not, and to force to a certain extent the opin- 
ion of the senators, presenting to them an accomplished 
fact, they celebrated a j)rovisional contract for a short 
time loan for a million and a half of dollars, according to 
whose terms the moneys would not go to NicaragTia ; and 
by virtue of that loan the custom houses of Nicaragua 
were put under the control of an American collector, and 
later on with another reason or pretext, all the other prin- 
cipal sources of revenue were put under the same control, 
leaving the government without any means to meet ex- 
penses, at the mercy of its creditors, and entirely sub- 
servient to a foreign group. 

The immediate consequence of that state of affairs 
was, beside others, that the government needing some 
money, no matter how small the amount, the bankers 
agreed to furnish from the sums collected from the reve- 
nues, in exchange for an option on 51% of the ownership 
of the national railroads and steamers, for a price of a 
million of dollars. The management of the steamers and 
railroads to be assumed by them as an additional guar- 
anty. 



23 

In the provisional pact there was provided the estab- 
lishment of a National Bank, that would put in practice 
the plan recommended by foreign experts for the conver- 
sion of the depreciated paper money of the country for 
another paper issued by the Bank, representing gold. But 
there is a very peculiar stipulation in the contract; the 
depreciated bills, that the Bank would receive, would not 
he cancelled, they were to be deposited in the Bank as an 
additional guaranty, which means that in the very remote 
possibility of a loss, the Bank had the right to put them 
in circulation again. The Nicaraguan people with great 
reason, although acting only on impulse or instinct, has 
rejected the new Bank bills, refusing to place confidence 
in them, because they are considered as bad as the former 
bills. President Wilson has used very severe language in 
speaking and judging those negotiations that he charac- 
terizes as hard bargains, but we are sure that he has not 
paid very much attention to this point, because then his 
words would have seemed to him very mild. 

There has been recently signed another contract, by 
which the New York Bankers use the option on the rail- 
roads and steamers, paying one million dollars for 51 % of 
the shares of those enterprises, and taking another option 
for one million to the remaining 49%. But of that 
money, not a cent ever reached Nicaragua, because it was 
applied to cancel the balance of the former loan, to com- 
plete the guaranty of the monetary plan, and to subscribe 
49 % of the shares of the National Bank. As a compensa- 
tion they made a new loan to the government with the 
same guaranties of the previous loan for a year. We do 
not know what has been done with that money. Al- 
though it were well spent, that is only a very transient 
help. When it becomes due the government will find 
itself in greater difficulties, as always happens after the 
moneys loaned are spent, when they are spent in a non- 
productive manner; and it is impossible to foresee how 
many and greater sacrifices that government will be com- 
pelled to make, to obtain new delays of payments or to 
renew the contract that it cannot fulfill. If there is not 
a radical change, there will be an interminable chain of 
difficulties and humiliations for the government and 
people of Nicaragua. 



24 



We suppose that President Wilson refers to that help 
when he says in his speech talking of his duty to help 
those countries to free themselves of the subordination 
to foreign interests, "I think some of these gentlemen 
have already had occasion to bear witness that the De- 
partment of State in recent months has tried to serve 
them in that wise". 

But from his words we may infer that he has had no 
time to study carefully those negotiations, because had 
he possessed an intimate knowledge of the Avorkings of 
said negotiations, as we have explained them, he would 
not have permitted that his name were linked with busi- 
ness that come under the scope that he calls hard bar- 
gains and neither would he consent, that for the sake of 
obtaining money, Nicaragua should be compelled to sell 
at a sacrifice, a property builded by the efforts of several 
generations, sold for less than half its value, something 
we are sure of, even if it were not true what is publicly 
said, that the bankers have already sold the railroad, re- 
alizing a profit of one hundred per cent. 

We will not enter in the field of figures on the finan- 
cial condition of Nicaragua, because from the time the 
revenues have been administered by foreign collectors, 
we have not seen published, neither in Nicaragua nor 
here, a single statement about the production or inversion 
of the revenues. The only well known fact is the empti- 
ness of the National Treasury, such that never happened 
before even during the worst times of internal political 
strife. 

Up to now, we have examined the intervention of the 
Department of State of the United States in Nicaragua, 
in reference to the finances of that country. Now we 
are going to study it under a political aspect, although 
we will have to refer occasionally to the financial ques- 
tion, because it has been the object and the soul of inter- 
vention. 

In 1909 there existed in Nicaragua a government op- 
posed to negotiations like those that have been lately car- 
ried out in that country. On the contrary it had just 
finished negotiations for a loan in England, obtaining 
more advantageous conditions than those offered by the 



25 



American bankers. A considerable part of that loan 
was destined to pay an American loan that was in force. 
For that reason it was decided to eliminate the President 
who had negotiated the English loan. There was a revo- 
lution that with the moral support of the Department of 
State, and with material help more or less disguised, 
triumphed in the end, after thousands of victims were 
sacrificed, and millions of dollars expended, the country 
suffering immense material loss. 

As soon as the provisional government was inaugu- 
rated in the capital of the republic, there arrived an 
agent of the Department of State, to confer with the 
winning party, imposing on it a political agreement in 
regard to the succession to the Presidency, but at the 
same time it was a financial agreement because, among 
other things, they agreed to approve the convention and 
loan as we have explained before. That was the price 
asked for the help given to the revolution. Some misun- 
derstandings appeared amongst the victorious revolu- 
tionists, the result of which was that the President at 
that time left the office, to be taken by the one who holds 
it now, thus making possible the remaining at the head 
of the War Department of Greneral Luis Mena, w^ho, until 
that moment, was the favorite of United States Depart- 
ment, as it was proved by the fact of having the Ameri- 
can Minister interfered to realize such changes. 

General Mena was elected President for the next 
presidential term, by the National Assembly. His elec- 
tion was just as legal or illegal as that the present in- 
cumbent, that was also elected by that Assembly. Neither 
the American Minister nor any of the members of the 
Nicaraguan government protested against his election. 
The only protest made at the time came from the party 
vanquished by the revolution, that asked why the elec- 
tion of President was not submitted to popular vote. 

The American Minister forthwith approached Gen- 
eral Mena, because he was in fact, the most important 
member of the government, asking him to use his in- 
fluence to help the United States government to obtain 
an option to build a canal through Nicaragua, offering 
in exchange a miserly amount of money. General Mena 



26 



answered that lie believed that it would be difficult to 
have such a proposition approved by the Nicaraguan Con- 
gress, but that he believed that if the American govern- 
ment paid fifteen million, a sum equal to the preferred 
loan, he believed the negotiation would be approved by 
Congress, as in that case there would be no need of the 
loan. The American Minister objected, saying that the 
sum was too high, and told General Mena that he domi- 
nated the majority of the Nicaraguan Congress, and that 
if he wanted the convention would be approved. The 
American Minister let it be clearly understood to Gen- 
eral Mena that he was acting against his own interests. 
Prom that moment Mena's fate must have been sealed. 
He had to be eliminated, because the same American 
Minister afterwards was the one to ask Mena for his 
resignation as Minister of War, and as Commander of 
the Army, compelling him to leave the capital without 
offering any resistance. In reference to this and other 
negotiations carried by said American Minister, we have 
seen published in the press of Panama and Central 
America, documents of such a grave import that we pre- 
fer to albstain from commenting on them, leaving it to 
the American press and the American statesmen. What 
we say above it we know through having had occasion to 
read letters of General Mena relating the facts. 

Mena did not submit himself to the imposition. He 
retired from the Capital to start a civil war, that we will 
not call rebellion, because his object was to prevent oth- 
ers from eliminating him as President-elect. And if 
either of the two could have been called legally Presi- 
dent, it was he, because he counted before and during the 
war with the support of the Assembly, that had elected 
the present and the future President, deposed the first, 
and appointing a provisional president to fill the gap up 
to the time in which Mena should assume the presidency. 

If Mena had only counted with the support of his 
partizans, the contending forces would have been equal; 
but his superiority was at once manifested, because the 
enemies of the party in power, declared themselves in his 
favor and his cause became very popular. He was never- 
theless vanquished without a great struggle, because 



there landed thousands of American marines to oppose 
him. These had the superiority of their armaments, 
their discipline, and above all the moral prestige of be- 
ing soldiers of such a powerful nation. With all that 
they would have encountered the very stubborn resistance 
that the people offer when their rights are trampled un- 
der foot, and when they see their country invaded by 
foreign soldiers, if to vanquish the patriots they had not 
had resource to deceit. The intervention was ac- 
complished by the American marines under pretext that 
rhe only object of their presence on Nicarag-uan soil was 
to protect American citizens and American interest, in- 
cluding in this last class the national steamers and rail- 
road, whose delivery they demanded. They promised to 
observe the strictest neutrality in the civil strife, and 
consequently they promised that both means of travel 
would not be used by either of the belligerents. But as 
soon as they had taken possession of the railroad sta- 
tions and chosen and fortified the positions they consid- 
ered advantageous for defense, as soon as they felt sure 
that they could dominate the cities where the patriots 
were camped, they intimated to General Mena, at Gra- 
nada that he must not give arms and ammunition to 
more than five hundred volunteers that had gone from 
Leon on foot, covering more than one hundred miles to 
get those arms, and passing through the enemy's lines. 
After they succeeded in this, they ordered General Mena 
to dismantle the fortifications he occupied, to take away 
the artillery, and that his soldiers put their arms in pa- 
villion under futile pretexts. After they were obeyed, 
they demanded the unconditional surrender of General 
Mena, and he had to submit, because he was seriously 
sick in bed, and because he was already disarmed. Thus 
they took possession of Granada, which city was de- 
livered at once by them to the forces of the Diaz Govern- 
ment, taking General Mena as a prisoner to Ancon, where 
he remained in custody until he recovered his liberty 
when the new^ President of the United States ordered it. 
The same tactics were employed at Masaya, where 
General Benjamin Zeledon was commander. His con- 
duct will go down in history as a brilliant example for 



28 



patriots. When he received the intimation for surrender 
he gave an answer that we cannot resist the wish to 
quote, because it proves that President Wilson was not 
mistaken in recognizing the dignity, the courage, and the 
splendid character of Latin Americans, who deserve uni- 
versal admiration. General Zeledon's answer was : 

■ Masaya, October 3, 1912. 
To Colonel J. H. Pendleton, In Camp. 

Sir:— 

I have received your note, dated yesterday, in which you 
inform me that the government of the United States has 
ordered that no disturbers be permitted to occupy positions 
which menace the railroad between Corinto and Granada; 
that, in consequence, you give me notice to evacuate all my 
positions on the Barranca, Coyotepe and in this city; that 
if I comply with this demand, I will make it knovsm by 
flying in a position preferable visible from Coyotepe and the 
Barranca and other points, white flags; that forewith my 
troops should march towards your lines, near the station of 
Nindiri on the railroad line, where the arms should be de- 
posited; that you will not receive any delegation or commis- 
sion coming to ask other conditions of you than those indi- 
cated; that if your order is not complied with, today at ex- 
actly eight o'clock in the morning, the fire from your artillery 
will open up and drive me from my position. 

I confess to you that I have read your above mentioned 
note, and I have been reluctant to believe that it is signed 
by one trained in military matters, who served under the flag 
of the Great American Nation, that prides itself on being the 
guiding spirit of the Democratic Republics of the American 
Continent; and my surprise increases still more when I con- 
sider it impossible that the Government of the United States 
of North America, and above all the Senate of the Country, 
at Washington and of Lincoln, has authorized its servants 
to come and intervene with armed forces in the internal 
affairs that we Nicaraguans discuss in this land, which is ours, 
and bequeathed sovereign and independent to us by our 
fathers. 

After serving protest in the matter, by virtue of what was 
determined upon by the majority of the patriots of this city 
and by the majority of the Generals under my Command, 
in spite of my opinion to the contrary, trains were permitted 
to pass through the midst of my position upon the railway 
line which leads to Granada, and from the date of the per- 
mission up to the present, trains have continued to pass with 
all guarantees on the part of my forces. 



29 

Having obtained then the passage of trains, I do not see 
even remotely the reason which you can give to your supe- 
riors for exacting the surrender of my position and a dis- 
armament of my army; and consequently, I dare think that 
you will withdraw your threats in view of the justice which 
assists me. But if, unfortunately for the honor of the United 
States of North America, you and your Chiefs are deaf to 
the well founded reasons which I sight, and carry forward 
your threatened attack, your trains by that act itself will be 
considered as hostile instead of enjoying the guarantee which 
up to now they have been enjoying, I will make with my forces 
the resistance that the case requires, and that the dignity of 
Nicaragua which we represent demands, and afterwards, there 
will fall upon you, your chiefs and the mighty nation to which 
you belong, the tremendous responsibilities which history will 
set forth, and the eternal reproach of having employed your 
arms against the weak who have been fighting to conquer the 
sacred privileges of the fatherland. 

I hope that you will dain to send me your answer before 
proceeding to attack my position, in order that I may know 
what action to take. 

Respectfully, 

B. F. Zeledon. 

The battle commenced with a very heavy artillery 
fire which the American marines poured on the fortifica- 
tions of the city of Masaya for twenty-four hours. The 
fortifications had been improvised by the defenders, and 
that fire was followed by an assault. There was a weak 
resistance, because the defenders lacked ammunition, 
specially for their artillery. The fighting continued in 
the square of the city with the help of President Diaz's 
forces, and af tep a few hours' fighting, Zeledon abandoned 
the city when his ammunition was exhausted. Zeledon 
was persecuted, and when they met him he was killed. 
How? The patriots declare that he was captured and 
assassinated, his enemies saying that he died as a result 
of the wounds received in a loyal fight. History will 
keep the name of that victim to honor it as it deserves, 
and it will clear the manner in which he was killed. 
Even with documents in our possession we do not want 
to make charges, because we are afraid to be blinded by 
admiration for that hero and indignation against those 
that were his executioners, at least because they were 
executioners of their country. 



30 



Leon as well as the other towns of the north, one after 
another, surrendered to the American marines, that at 
once turned them over to the Diaz government, all re- 
sistance being useless because of lack of arms and am- 
munition. 

We have entered into all these details to justify the 
impression that must have caused in the American 
marines the role that they filled in that war. They must 
have reflected, that like the Swiss soldiers of former 
times, they were selling their blood, hiring their services, 
to sustain a tyrant against his own people, and to con- 
tinue serving him as his own personal guard, to insure 
his safety. Loving their country as they do, they must 
have felt admiration for the Nicaraguans who defended 
their own, as well as contempt for those who urged them 
to kill their brothers; because, although they were 
soldiers, they had nevertheless the feelings of free citi- 
zens, of the free American nation. 

We have found our judgment of the feelings of the 
American marines confirmed by unquestionable docu- 
ments, that we hope to see published in the American 
press, such as the reports of the chiefs of the expedition- 
ary forces, some of them we have been lucky to see. 
There they will find this declaration : "The present gov- 
ernment of Nicaragua represents only a small minority 
of the people. Without the help of the American marines 
they could not have triumphed; without their presence 
in the country tliey could not remain in power." 

We are sure that President Wilson and Secretary of 
State Bryan, have not seen the above mentioned docu- 
ments and others we have referred to, because they are 
still sustainino; the consequences of that intervention. 

One of them was the contract for the Canal through 
Nicaragua, including other concessions. We have al- 
ready said how the asking by General Mena of a price 
that the American Minister considered too high, pro- 
voked his downfall with the intervention of American 
marines; and consequently that transaction may be con- 
sidered as the price paid for American help at that time, 
and it is not the only one if the diplomatic notes we have 
referred to, are authenticated. Those diplomatic notes 
have been published by the Latin American press, and 



31 

they have not been contradicted by any of the American 
representatives residing in the countries where they have 
been published. At another time we have examined at 
length the faults of that contract, and we will limit our- 
selves to comment on it in relation to President Wilson's 
declarations. 

The President said: "The United States will never 
again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest." 
This signifies that, through that means they will not ac- 
quire anything that will affect or diminish the sover- 
eignty of any other country. We want therefore to prove 
that the Mcaraguan contract affects in several ways 
the sovereignty of several Central American countries. 

In the first place, the perpetual option to build a 
canal, deprives Nicaragua of the right to build it by 
herself in her own soil, because that right is given ex- 
clusively to a foreign government, and it would be a 
less serious problem, if it was really intended to accom- 
plish the work, instead of preventing it, as is proved 
by a simple examination of the contract. There is no 
fixed date to begin nor for ending the work; there are 
no stipulations about the details of the work, leaving 
everything for future arrangements between the con- 
tracting parties, "something that the concessionist would 
not do after paying three millions of dollars, if it had a 
real interest of using that concession, as the other party 
would be at liberty to prevent them from doing anything 
by interminable discussions of the final arrangements. 

In the second place, the concession of naval bases on 
the Atlantic and the Pacific deprives Nicaragua of its 
eminent domain over the territory occupied by said naval 
bases, that would be under the domination of the foreign 
government. 

In the third place, the canal route belongs also to 
Costa Rica, that has the right to intervene in all negotia- 
tions pertaining to the building of the canal, and to re- 
ceive the proportional share, already agreed upon before- 
hand, of the price of the sale of the concession, according 
to the arbitral award given by President Cleveland; and 
that award the United States are more than any other 
country compelled to respect, because they cannot dis- 
regard it without violating all principles of absolute 



32 

justice as well as international justice and without dis- 
crediting the principle of arbitration, of which the 
United States have become the champions before the 
world. 

And besides, the Gulf of Fonseca does not belong only 
to Nicaragua but also to El Salvador and Honduras, 
lying within their territories, and only a small part of it 
belongs to Nicaragua, and that part is useless for the 
purpose of a naval base. El Salvador has already pro- 
tested. Honduras has kept silent, at least, we are not 
aware that its government has done anything to protect 
its rights. That silence is inexplicable and unjustifiable, 
but it can not serve to secure any rights, specially when 
the unanimous opposition of the people of that country to 
any negotiations on that subject is very well known. 

To go ahead with that project would be to offend the 
sovereignty of those republics, it would be to risk their 
independence, because once the naval station is estab- 
lished and fortified, either its warships or merchant 
ships, and for that matter those of other nations, could 
not enter the gulf without the consent of the United 
States, that would dominate with the artillery of the forts 
and that of its warships the waters of the gulf. We do 
not want to bring here historical, geographical or legal 
arguments against the project, because they have been 
presented extensively to the Department of State by the 
Salvadorian Government ; but from our point of view, we 
are satisfied with referring to the severe principles of 
President Wilson. The United States would never dare 
to use the rights obtained from one of the owners of a gulf 
like Fonseca' s, if the other co-owners were two strong na- 
tions like England or Germany. That two weak nations 
like Salvador and Honduras are the co-owners in this case, 
will not alter President Wilson's opinion, because he has 
proclaimed the legal equality of all the nations in 
America; because he has offered them the friendship of 
the United States on the basis of equality and justice. 
President Wilson would not do to them what he would not 
want to be done to the United States. 

Afterwards, by official declarations, published in the 
press of this country, we learned that there had been cele- 
i3rated a new agreement under the original basis, with the 



33 



addition of a protectorate over Nicaragua under the form 
of something like the Piatt amendment in Cuba ; declaring 
the desire of extending it to all the nations in the neigh- 
borhood of the Panama Canal. The original agreement 
in regard to the canal was not known in Central America, 
and it was made public almost at the same time that the 
plan for a protectorate was. The news caused great alarm 
and indignation in the affected countries, and in all Latin- 
America. The Secretary of State, Mr. Bryan, gave a 
statement to the press, explaining the situation. He said 
that Nicaragua had asked for the protectorate, that it 
would not be imposed upon any of the other republics, 
but it would be conceded to those that would ask for it. 
He did not succeed in calming the anxiety of those coun- 
tries, because they understood that it would be easy to 
create in their territories the same conditions that prevail 
in Nicaragua to compel their government to ask for the 
protectorate. 

In Central America there existed another reason for 
anxiety. The Nicaraguan protectorate represented the 
death of the great and patriotic ideal of the reorganization 
of the original nationality ; and Mr. Bryan, to set at rest 
that anxiety, declared that the Nicaraguan protectorate 
would not be an obstacle to the Central American Union, 
because the United States would always look with sym- 
pathy to the accomplishment of that project. This was 
not entirely satisfactory, because the protectorate repre- 
sented a new obstacle added to- those already existing, the 
necessity of obtaining the consent of a foreign power. 

Therefore the news that the Committee of Foreign 
Affairs of the Senate had rejected the clause of the pro- 
tectorate over Nicaragua gave great satisfaction to Cen- 
tral America, and the speech of President Wilson in 
Mobile caused boundless joy, and the Latin American 
countries became calm again ; because, as we have said be- 
fore, they believe that it was premeditated, and they have 
faith that any project containing the slightest violence 
against those weak countries is incompatible with the 
principles proclaimed by the President, who will not bear 
injustice or that their rights should be ignored, whether 
they agreed or not with the convenience of this country. 



34 

although we believe that the true, legitimate interest of 
those countries and those of the United States will never 
disagree. 

But unfortunately the rumor that there will be signed 
a new treaty embodying practically the same conditions of 
the preceding one, added to certain news published by the 
press of this country in a semi-official way, has provoked 
again agitation in those countries. It was said, for in- 
stance, that this government had retired the American 
Marines from all the countries where they had been 
landed except from Nicaragua, where they would remain 
until the convention for a protectorate had been ratified. 
It is impossible to make the multitude understand that 
such a course did not agTee with the President's promises, 
but we believe that the news has no foundation. It is not 
possible that President Wilson will agree to gather the 
fruits of conquest. The State Department, and not the 
American people waged an unjust war, not against the 
government, bvit against the people of Nicaragua, and the 
results of that war must be considered illegal. 

We want to answer beforehand the argument that 
such acquisitions have not been obtained by conquest be- 
cause they have been given spontaneously by the Nicara- 
guan government. We do not believe that statesmen like 
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan would descend to such a 
vulgar subterfuge to justify expoliation. 

The Department of State knows better than any body 
else, that what exists in Nicaragua is not, and cannot be 
a government, because it has not means to exist, except 
what is given to it by the Department. That government 
has begged the Department to maintain in Nicaragua the 
marines that were landed there, confessing that without 
their presence it cannot exist. It agrees to everything 
that is asked by this government, in fact it anticipates the 
slightest desires of the Department, and sometimes offers 
and concedes what is not asked or desired. In one word, 
when the United States deal with that government they 
deal with themselves. President Wilson has refused to 
recognize as legitimate and constitutional the govern- 
ment of General Huerta in Mexico, notwithstanding the 
fact that it is sustained by, more or less, half the people 



35 

of Mexico, without the help of any foreign forces. With 
greater reason he must consider still more illegitimate and 
unconstitutional, the government that has confessed its 
lack of prestige and its impotencj. During the past Ad- 
ministration they might have accepted the complicity of 
B, few Nicaraguans to accomplish their purpose, at the 
same time applying the axiom of Napoleon I: "I take 
advantage of treason but I despise traitors." We are sure 
that President Wilson with his severe moral principles 
will say : "I reject treason with as much energy as I despise 
the traitors." 

Even without those considerations, in case a legal 
government representing really the majority of the Nic- 
araguan people should have agreed to the concessions, 
these would always be the fruits of a conquest of the kind 
President Wilson said the United States would not seek, 
the same as are considered. 

Alsace, Loraine, Philippines and Puerto Kico, not- 
withstanding those territories have been transferred in 
the Peace Treaties by the legitimate governments of the 
•defeated nations to the victors. 

History teaches us that Eome, w^hen its covetousness 
pointed out a nation to be conquered, endeavored always 
first, to stir civil war in that country, then she let her- 
self be called by one of the contending factions, then in- 
tervened, and the unlucky country was converted in a 
Koman province. By the description of events the case is 
similar to that of Nicaragua ; but neither Secretary Bryan 
nor President Wilson can accept, nor the American Senate 
ratify, nor the American people consent, that there should 
be renewed in their country the former punic faith, in its 
international relations, specially towards the weak 
nations. 

Seeking justice, and at the same time the real con- 
venience of this country. President Wilson needs not 
force the southern countries to obtain everything that he 
may wish for as a good American Patriot. We are con- 
vinced, that not only the governments but the peoples of 
Central America would willingly contribute to insure the 
legitimate interest of the United States in this continent, 
conciliating them with their own interests. 



36 

Kegarding the Nicaragua Canal. What is it the 
United States seek in the convention they are trying to 
enter into with that country? To prevent any rival power 
from using it as a strategic base in case of war? They 
would be sufficiently protected against that risk, if Nic- 
aragua and Costa Eica should agree not to allow the con- 
struction of the canal to any nation outside of this 
contingent. If it was argued that the United States need 
to insure the financial success of the Panama Canal, al- 
though that kind of reason is never taken into account 
by powerful nations, because competition is a law of 
humanity, the Central American Eepublics being sure 
that in fifty years they cannot develop their resources and 
credit to be able to accomplish that work, would not hurt 
their interests by giving to the United States the option 
they ask for that period of time, and at its expiration the 
above referred pact would be still in force. In fifty years 
this country would be sufficiently compensated for the 
money inverted in the Panama Canal. 

Why does the United States seek a naval base in the 
Gulf of Fonseca? To protect the Panama Canal it does 
not need it, because she has enough with the naval base 
at the isthmus. It might be argued that it is to prevent 
other nations from getting it; but to avoid that danger it 
is easy to enter into an agreement with not only Nic- 
aragua but all the other Central American nations, obtain- 
ing a greater and better guarantee. Those countries we 
are sure would willingly obligate themselves not to give 
any concession to a foreign government for a naval base, 
at any point in their coasts, in the Atlantic as well as in 
the Pacific. They may argue further that there remains 
the danger of having a stronger nation taking possession 
of the gulf by force, but the United States would have the 
right to prevent it by virtue of the rights acquired in the 
treaty we suggest. And as such a thing could only hap- 
pen in case of war between the United States and another 
naval power, they could guard against that occupation by 
reason of their proximity, or they could destroy the enemy 
within the gulf, just as well as in the high seas. 

Besides to absolutely prevent such danger the United 
States would have to capture and fortify all the bays 



37 

and ports from Mexico down to Ecuador in the Pacific 
coast and down to Venezuela in the Atlantic side, and re- 
move from the Caribbean Sea all the nations that have 
colonies there. As all this is impossible, the acquisition 
of the naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca would be of little 
value for the purpose, and they would not have the proper 
compensation for that unjust act, and the alarm and 
anxiety caused in the countries near to the Panama 
Canal. 

If the United States wants its merchant marine to en- 
joy the same privileges as that of Nicaragua, they can ob- 
tain that concession from the Central American Kepublics, 
by giving them reciprocal advantages. This reciprocity 
clause always appears in all treaties of peace, commerce 
and navigation. Although sometimes the stipulations 
may appear ridiculous at first sight, because one of the 
contracting parties cannot enjoy the privileges granted 
by those treaties, they are nevertheless just because those 
treaties prepare the way in view of a better future, and 
said clauses recognize the equality of the contracting 
nations. 

All this can be obtained without trouble, we are sure, 
by the United States, showing their respect to justice and 
towards the sovereignty of the Central American Coun- 
tries, eliminating scandal and violence, and we are con- 
fident that President Wilson will reject all previous un- 
dertakings. And to seek another way, he will correct the 
unjust acts committed up to the present time towards the 
Nicaraguan people, helping it to free itself from subord- 
ination to foreign interest, and to establish constitutional 
government. 

In his last message to Congress President Wilson said : 
"We are the friends of constitutional government in 
America, we are more than its friend, we are its champion, 
because in no other way can our neighbors, to whom we 
most prove our friendship, work for the development of 
their country in peace and liberty." This solemn declara- 
tion, changes in a radical manner, the policy of this 
government towards the rest of America. Before, it had 
been a rule of this government, to be the friend, almost the 
ally, of any government, by the mere fact that it was 



38 



government, without inquiring its legal right. Any popu- 
lar uprising was condemned, even if it was provoked by 
a tirant, a violator of the constitution, an usurper, or 
even if it was the result of a crime. That declaration of 
President Wilson shows that in declaring himself the 
friend of constitutional government, he declared himself 
the friend of the people and not of the persons that 
govern. 

That declaration has another meaning of great im- 
portance. If President Wilson considers that those 
peoples deserve constitutional government, the belief 
prevailing in this country that they can only be gov- 
erned with an iron hand, will be gradually discredited. 
We suspect that said belief had its origin, in the high 
opinion entertained in this country over General Por- 
firio Diaz, who governed Mexico in peace for more than 
thirty years. They saw the marvelous development in 
that country of commerce, agriculture and industry un- 
der his rule, how thousands of millions of dollars of 
foreign capital were invested in the country, and the 
material progress attained, and the country crossed in 
all directions by railroads and telegraph lines. But they 
see to-day that beautiful fabric was destroyed because 
it lacked base, the base of constitutional government. A 
dictatorship cannot give birth to liberty. The Mexican 
people was not prepared for it, and to-day we see Mexico 
on the brink of a precipice, beset by the most horrible 
anarchy. Dictatorship can be justified only during 
limited periods and under extraordinary circumstances. 

In other Latin American countries, General Por- 
flrio Diaz was imitated by persons that copied his de- 
fects and not his good traits. Unfortunately good many 
have been incited to do that by the chorus of praise given 
in this country to the iron hand. All of them pretended 
to possess that iron hand, consequently there has not 
been a lack of it, and notwithstanding that fact, they 
have not made happy the countries ruled by them. They 
have not given them peace even, because the iron hand 
has always been the most potent cause of revolution. 

We do not believe that people in this country realize 
what the iron hand means to those that use it, and we 



39 

are sure that if it was well understood what, the Ameri- 
can statemen and the American press would never 
recommend a system that turns into slaves all the in- 
habitants of the country, and has never produced citizens 
and never will, because the iron hand means down there 
the following : An absolute and personal rule ; the right 
of the ruler to do as he pleases, to deprive of life, liberty 
and property whomsoever they dislike ; to convert public 
treasury in their private treasure. Liberty of the press 
is converted into a hollow mockery, because they only 
allow^ to print praises and flattery of the ruler. Political 
meetings are forbidden, except to praise the ruler and 
make him protest of adherence; and there is only one 
law, the will of the ruler, who never complies with the 
laws he despises. In fact that system is the same prac- 
tised by the chiefs of savage tribes, disguised with the 
false glittering gold of civilized methods. And in the 
end the iron hand is found to be weak. While it is sus- 
tained by power it destroys men from the highest intel- 
lectual ranks to the lowest elements of society, and those 
that practice it, when they feel that they are losing power, 
regularly conduct themselves as arrant cowards. 

In our opinion, the iron hand, to better express it 
the steel hand, is necessary to conduct constitutional gov- 
ernment. In establishing that system, that has as a 
basis compliance of the law, the man who governs must 
begin by applying the steel hand to himself, to contain his 
own tendency to carry out his own will; it has to be ap- 
plied to his friends and partisans, always creating more 
difficulties than his enemies, to maintain them within 
the rules ; the steel hand is needed to convince the masses 
of the people that the ruler is not almighty, and teach 
them that they must not expect favors but justice; it 
has to be applied also to maintain constitutional guar- 
anties, and to seek that the citizen use and not abuse 
their individual rights, without employing to suppress 
the abuse other means than the judiciary. 

Speaking of constitutional government, we do not 
understand that it means the one based in the most ad- 
vanced and liberal laws, but the one based in the institu- 
tions of the country whatever they are. If it is believed 



40 



that the country is not prepared to enjoy all rights and 
guaranties accepted to-day as absolute rights of man- 
kind, the party upholding that opinion should work to 
have introduced in the constitution all the restrictions 
considered necessary; but as long as it is in power let 
it comply loyally with the laws, and never proceed in an 
arbitrary way. 

Let the opposing party work to obtain the rights and 
guaranties as far as they are practicable, and if it gets 
in power, let it comply with the laws, no matter how bad 
they seem to be, as long as they are not modified by due 
process of the law. 

That kind of governments are the ones that President 
Wilson wishes to see established in America. The influ- 
ence that the government and people of the United States 
may exert to establish them, is great; and to prove that 
they sincerely wish it, they must begin by using their 
paramount influence in Nicaragua, converting it from 
harm as it is at present beneficial to the Nicaraguan peo- 
ple. They must subsitute the mockery of government ex- 
isting there to-day with another government product of 
the will of the majority of the Nicaraguan people through 
a free election. 

We do not care whether the government resulting 
from that election is liberal or conservative, because we 
have carefully avoided to get mixed in the internal poli- 
tics of Central America, even in Honduras, our own coun- 
try. It is on that account that even if we have been severe 
in our judgment about the present government of Nicara- 
gua, we have not attacked its internal politics, but its 
work to jeopardize the most vital interests of the country, 
subjugating it, and selling it to a foreign government for 
the sake of keeping in power. We have faith that the sale 
of a free country will not be consummated, that the actual 
government of Nicaragua will disappear, leaving its place 
to another that will be really constitutional. 

When this is accomplished the fear and lack of confi- 
dence in the United States will disappear in the southern 
countries, and they will look up to them with infinite 
hope and confidence, because they will be convinced that 
under the severe sight of their government and under the 



41 

wise censure of their press, instead of the help which has 
heretofore received, the dictators will gradually disap- 
pear by the pacific efforts of patriotism, that will work 
for the development of constitutional liberty within the 
great family of American nations. 

CONCLUSION. 

We have written this article, like all the others we 
have produced in favor of our country, by our own initia- 
tive. We have lived three years in this country, we ad- 
mired since we were children, enjoying full guarantees, 
that were denied us in our own country during the last 
fifteen years. We hope with all our heart to establish 
here our home, so as to educate our children under the 
influence of modern liberty and progress, but those hopes 
would be shattered, if it should happen that we were 
compelled to consider this country as an enemy of our 
own. And for that reason, it is to a certain extent, with 
an egotistical object in view, that we are so interested to 
make clear the real situation, so as to avoid, as far as 
possible, that the American statesmen for lack of sufficient 
knowledge of the character, habits, virtues and defects, 
ideals and aspirations of the southern countries, may in- 
cur in error or insist in those already committed, in 
the relations of the United States with those countries, 
hurting the national feeling, felt there as much as in this 
country. We wish to see the races that inhabit this con- 
tinent march fraternally united to the realization of their 
respective destinies. 

While we were engaged in this work, we received from 
the Central American Patriotic League, the appointment 
as their representative, to defend their cause before the 
American people and government. This association was 
organized in El Salvador, and has extended to all the Cen- 
tral American Eepublics. Its creation was due to the 
alarm felt on account of the project of a protectorate and 
others affecting the autonomy of those countries. The 
honor that they have conferred upon us has a special im- 
portance, because it means that our past labors in favor of 
continental harmony have been approved in those coun- 



42 



tries, and it urges us to continue our work with greater 
confidence. Our words might not express the ideas and 
sentiments of some of the governments of Central 
America, but we have been sure, and now still more so, 
that we have expressed what those people think and feel. 
We feel now authorized to add to our sm^ll personal 
authority, the force of the representation confided to us, 
in declaring that in this writing President Wilson will, 
find the answer to the program made public in his speech. 
That answer is given by the thought and heart of Central 
America; and we believe that we are not extralimiting 
ourselves if we affirm also that it is the answer sriven by 
the thought and heart of all America. 



New York, February, 1914. 



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